The New Neighbors
by TheAwesomePercyJacksonFangirl
Summary: When seven-year-old Harry gets new next-door neighbors, they seem a bit... off. Little does he know, the slightly older girl he met that day was going to be the one to change the way he sees the world. The beginning of what I hope will be a long journey. Not Harry/OC. K , to be safe.
1. The Beginning

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction that I have decided to publish. Please feel free to let me know if you see any mistakes and typos, so I can fix them. Enjoy!**

The New Neighbors

A scrawny, messy-haired seven-year-old jabbed at the hard dirt with an oversized shovel, the summer sun beating on his back, watching discreetly as a family moved in next door. They had been at it for around a day and a half now, and it was the talk of Privet Drive. It had been a long time since someone new had come to the neighborhood, and everyone was curious.

Harry had managed to gather a bit of information so far. The new people had a daughter, who looked to be a little older than Dudley, a girl around his age, and two twin boys, who looked around five. The children were all pretty short, the girl his age was even shorter than him! The mom looked a bit strange to him. She was only about four feet tall, and Harry could have sworn she had pointed ears! He wouldn't mention that little fact to anyone, though. Uncle Vernon might hear, and he knew what the consequences of that would be.

Pointy ears aside, nothing else seemed terribly out of the ordinary. They were finishing getting the last boxes out of the very back of the rented moving truck, from what Harry could see. To little Harry's shock, the older girl started walking in his direction. She stopped when she was just on the other side of the fence from him. She had hair as black as his own, but it was neatly combed, and fell down to just past her shoulders. She had rounded features and cherubic lips, with hazel eyes.

"Hello!" She chirped, "My name is Diana Fowl, my family just moved in next door, though I'm sure you know that already. What's your name?" Huh, the girl had a very Irish accent.

"My name's Harry." He answered simply, torn between hoping the girl would go away, so he wouldn't be punished for speaking to her, and hoping she would stay, because it was nice to have someone to talk to for a change.

"It's nice to meet you, Harry!" Diana seemed like a very cheerful sort of person, quite unlike the Dursleys. She put out her hand for him to shake. "How old are you? I'm nine, and I can't wait until I turn eleven, because that's when I can go to a special boarding school. It's the same one my grandparents went to!" Harry's earlier thoughts on her age were correct, then. She was a year older than Dudley. He shook her hand tentatively, the blisters on his hands hurting a bit as he did so. She gave him a small worried glance. He wasn't used to people worrying about his injuries, these weren't even that bad. It was worse when he burned his hand on the frying pan a few months ago.

"I'm seven."

"So you're only two years younger than me, then!" The perky girl looked like she was about to say more, but she was interrupted.

"Diana! Could you watch the twins?" Her father yelled. Like his daughter, he had an Irish accent. He was, unlike his wife, tall, with straight black hair and angular features. Upon further inspection, the man did not have pointed ears, but it seemed like his eyes were two different colors. Strange.

"Sure Dad!" Diana called back. She turned back briefly to address Harry. "See you later! It was very nice to meet you, if you want, I'll come out around noon tomorrow."

"Maybe." Harry wasn't sure if Aunt Petunia would let him come out. Maybe he would get lucky, though.

"I will take that as a yes! See you then!" The girl jogged back over to her house, black hair streaming behind her. Harry had the strangest feeling that there was more to the new family than what he saw. There was something... almost magical about them, and he really wanted to find out what.

* * *

He did manage to meet her the next day without Aunt Petunia noticing. He had gotten lucky, and his aunt had gone off for a few hours to gossip with the other neighborhood busybodies. She called it 'going to book club' but Harry wasn't stupid. He went outside to find Diana already waiting for him. He walked cautiously over to her. Dudley was inside, watching TV, so, he would probably be fine, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

"Good afternoon, Harry!"

Harry echoed the greeting.

"How are you doing? I saw your mum this morning, what is she like?"

Harry looked down at the ground. " That's not my mum." He said shaking his head slightly, "My parents are dead, that's my Aunt Petunia, she's not very nice."

Diana was clearly subdued by his response. "Oh, I'm sorry, Harry."

"That's okay, you couldn't have known, they died in a car crash then I was a baby. I don't really remember them." He lifted his shaggy black hair up so she could see his forehead. "Aunt Petunia says that's where I got this scar." Diana's eyes widened slightly, she seemed to be hiding shock. Harry wasn't sure why. People died in car crashes all the time, and he was no one special. There was a moment of silence as Diana seemed to be pondering something. Finally, after a silence that seemed like in eternity, even though it truthfully only was a minute or so, Diana spoke. When he glanced back at her, he caught a glance of the tip of her ear. It, like her mum's seemed to be as well, was pointed. He decided to try and ignore it.

"What's it like living with your aunt, Harry? You said she wasn't very nice."

Harry breathed a small sigh of relief at the change of subject. "It's okay, I guess. They make me do all the chores, though. Dudley never has to do anything." His voice dropped to a whisper. "If you ask me, I think he looks like a walrus. Aunt Petunia is always trying to 'fatten him up', though he really doesn't need to be. The school says he needs to go on a diet." Diana giggled. Harry decided to change the subject back to her. "What about you? I saw yesterday that you have siblings."

"I have three siblings," she began "first, there's Iris, she's seven, and really likes to read, she hardly ever comes out of the house. After her, there are the twins, Alex and Apollo, who are too smart for their own good, and are always getting into trouble. I have to watch them when mum or dad are doing something, so they don't do anything they aren't supposed to." She paused, so Harry would have a chance to speak. Harry decided to ask another question.

"Why did your parents decide to move here?" That seemed like a safe enough question to ask.

"Mum and Dad wanted a change of scenery, and there's a pretty good school system here. Dad wanted to scope out local businesses to see if he wants to invest in some of them. We'll probably live here for around three or four years, then we'll move again." It seemed a bit strange to Harry, but Diana acted like it was normal for her family. It probably was.

"So, your dad invests in businesses?"

"Yeah, he says it's to give back to the community. Kind of like charity work." That was interesting. Before he had to say anything, Diana's watch let out a shrill beeping sound. She glanced at it.

"Drat, I've got to go back inside to help unpack. Same time tomorrow?" Harry blinked.

"Uhh, sure, I'll try to get out here."

"I hope to see you then!" Like she did the day before, she jogged to her house, leaving. What was with that watch? Could she receive messages with it somehow? He decided that she probably just had an alarm set with the time she had to go back inside. After all, watches couldn't sent messages. _People don't have pointed ears, either._ A small voice in he head said. _Shush._ He thought back.

 **A/N: Like I said back to the top of the page, this is my first fanfiction! Let me know what you all think, and let me know if you think I should change anything! Constructive criticism is encouraged!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Harry didn't see Diana the next day, or even the day after that. It wasn't as though he didn't _want_ to see her, of course, it was just that Aunt Petunia was home, and had him doing indoor chores. He did, however, manage to leave her a note attached to the fence, so she wouldn't wait for him. It was a full week before he had the time to see her without the Dursleys finding out. The Dursleys were gone for the day, Dudley wanted a new horrible video game, and Petunia needed some things, so Harry was staying at Mrs. Figg's house for the day. Harry managed to leave another note, telling Diana where he would be, and that he would be outside at noon.

Waiting, of course, just seems that much longer when you really want to do something, _especially_ if the only thing you have to do in the meantime is listen to a slightly batty old woman talk about her cats. Harry kept a close eye on the clock. He had decided that he wanted to leave the house at 11:50, for several reasons. The first, of course, being that he wanted to escape Mrs. Figg's cat stories as soon as he possibly could. The second was that he wanted to be earlier than Diana this time. Finally, after all of his waiting, the clock's hand hit to that wonderful time.

"Mrs. Figg?" Harry questioned politely, "May I please go outside?"

"Hmm?" The older woman responded, before seeming to register what Harry had said. "Oh, of course. You youngsters, always rushing off to something new."

"Thank you Mrs. Figg!" Harry chimed happily, before bouncing up and heading towards the front door.

"Don't be gone too long now." Mrs. Figg warned "Your relatives won't be happy if you disappear."

Harry was pretty sure that his relatives couldn't care less, and that they would probably throw a party if he vanished, but Mrs. Figg didn't know that.

"I won't!" Harry gave Mrs. Figg a huge grin before trotting outside

* * *

The walk from Mongolia Crescent to Privet Drive was not a long one, so Harry arrived at his and Diana's meeting place with time to spare. He thought so, at least, he didn't have a watch to check. Judging by the fact Diana wasn't there yet, however, he guessed he was pretty early. They were meeting at the end of Privet Drive, as it was halfway between Mrs. Figg's house and their houses. This theory was debunked, of course, when Diana showed up a minute later. The short girl was running, and was next to him in seconds.

"Hi Harry! Sorry I'm late, I was talking to my dad about something." There was something strange about her voice, almost like she wasn't telling him something important. He also felt almost like something was trying to keep his mind off of that fact. If she was late, though, then he certainly wasn't early. Oh, well.

"That's fine Diana. I wasn't waiting that long." He paused, with nothing else to say, and rubbed a long scratch on the back of his forearm. Diana got that strange worried look on her face again.

"Are you okay, Harry? That scratch looks like it hurts. How did you get it?" Harry shifted uncomfortably. It was weird, having someone care enough to ask about his injuries. He felt that strange feeling again, he seemed compelled to tell her exactly what had happened to his arm. He shook off this feeling, though, and answered like he would if anyone else had asked.

"It's fine, I wasn't careful with the thorns on the rosebushes in the backyard, s'all. It's my own fault, really." This wasn't true, of course. Dudley had _shoved_ him into the rosebush, actually, but he didn't want Diana to know that. Diana didn't seem to believe that for a second, but she left it alone for now, which was all he could ask for. Diana, thankfully, changed the subject.

"Has anything strange ever happened to you? Like, something that you know couldn't possibly have happened, but it did, anyways?" Harry was a little scared, now. _How did she know that?_ More importantly, _why would she bring that up?_

"Uh, no!" He said quickly, "Why do you want to know? I haven't done anything wrong, have I? Uncle Vernon says that there's no such thing as magic!" Diana looked skeptical, to say the least. Darn it. Why was he such a bad lier?

"Harry, can I show you something? You have to keep it a secret. You can't even tell your aunt and uncle." She looked very serious, in stark contrast to her normal, happy-go-lucky expression. Well, keeping it a secret wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't like he had anyone to tell it to. Who would he tell? The spiders?

"Sure. What is it?" Diana started walking away from Privet Drive.

"I can't show you here, silly. People would see, and we don't want that. Follow me, I found the perfect place to show you the other day." She waved him to her. "Come on, then." Harry followed her. He might as well see what she had to show him. After all, she was just talking about strange things happening, maybe he wasn't a freak, after all. Maybe there were more people like him. He could hope so, at least. Maybe what she had to show him would clear some things up for him. What were the strange things that happened to him for, anyway? The two very short children walked off, talking, unaware that a small figure was watching them, following them, totally unseen.

* * *

They got to Diana's secret hiding spot in due time. As it turned out, there was a small patch of woods not too far away, in which there was a thicket of thornbushes. There was a path through the thorns, which lead to a small enclosed area, which would be extraordinarily hard to get to for anyone larger than two very short children. As an added bonus, it was nearly impossible to find, and anyone inside would be totally hidden.

"Ok, I can show you now!" Diana was back to her perky self again, her serious manner gone. "Could I see your arm?" Nervously, Harry gave her his uninjured right forearm. "Other arm, please." Harry gave her his left arm, reluctantly. "Now, watch this." She scrunched her face up in concentration, before relaxing a bit. Harry looked at her, puzzled. "Look at your, arm, silly." Harry did as he was told, and recoiled in shock. His arm was healed! He looked at it from all different angles, just in case, but the result didn't change.

"H-how did you do that?" Harry's eyes were wide with shock.

"Why, magic, of course! What else would do that?"

"But, magic doesn't exist. That's what Uncle Vernon always says."

"Clearly, it does exist. This 'Uncle Vernon' fellow doesn't know anything. Remember the weird things I asked you about?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts. That's magic!"

"Really! My aunt and uncle just said it was because I'm a freak."

"You're not a freak. You're a wizard. There are loads of other people that do magic. Your parents did, too."

"They did?" That was news to Harry. Wait a second, how did she know that? "How do you know?"

"They did. You're famous in our world."

"But, I'm just Harry. I'm no one special."

"You are special, Harry. More than you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno. It just came to the top of my head. Sounded profound."

"Oh."

They talked in the same manner for a while, Harry asking questions about magic, and Diana answering, for about an hour.

"So, let me get this straight." Harry put in "I'm a wizard, like my parents, and I'm famous because I apparently defeated some evil dude." Diana nodded "So I will get to go to a wizard school when I'm eleven, where there are four houses." Another nod "And non-magic people are muggles, which some wizards don't like. There are three kinds of wizard; purebloods, who have four wizard grandparents; halfbloods, who have at least one; and muggleborns, who are wizards born to non-magic people."

"Wizards and witches, but yes."

"Is there anything I'm missing?"

"Nope! You have a good memory, Harry!"

"Thanks!" Harry gave her a grin. He was much less reserved with her now, in part due to the fact she told him a secret, so he felt a bit less inclined to keep his from her, and partly because she was nicer than most people, so wouldn't hurt him if he let his guard down. "I should get going, Mrs. Figg will be wondering where I am."

"Ok, bye Harry!"

"Bye Diana!" He waved at his friend before heading out of the thicket, pausing, he said, "I'll meet you here next week, if you want."

"Fine by me! Leave me a note!"

"I will!" He finished leaving their hideout, and headed back to Magnolia Crescent.

 **A/N:**

 **I'm publishing this in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! (Or Philosophers Stone, whatever)**

 **Feel free to correct me on my spelling and grammar errors, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! Let me know if you spot any of my 'Americanisims' anywhere, so I can fix them.**


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